Working on projects while being away from the layout! Now, I still chuckle at the thoughts on my "organized" mess of a work bench but it is getting better. The night before I left for my 2 week business trip, I grabbed a small empty tool box I had and loaded in some tools, paint, glue, other supplies and a couple of project items. That immediately removed a few items from the work bench. Despite the long hours, I have made progress and at least 3 of those projects will be done and not returning to the workbench. First up is this. A section of L shaped styrene. A couple of weeks ago, I made some temporary track diagrams to put on the new fascia. To go with those, I decided I wanted to put some kind of marker at each switch/turnout for quick identification but that wouldn't stand out too much. I came up with these. I cut painted and decaled them over the past few nights. Have a little touch up to do and they should be good to go straight onto the layout when I return. Nothing fancy and should work well for what I wanted. The X is the marker for the Kato Unitrack double crossover. At the same time, I got to work on a steel I-beam load for a gondola. I cut these beams from some structural shapes styrene years ago. Back in the fall when it was still warm enough to paint, I came across them and decided it was time to revisit the project. I put a coat of steel paint on them and set them on the workbench for a winter project. I started with building each of the two layers. I use thread for the banding and you can see here where I applied the wood cribbing and attached the first strand of thread. Then got both sections banded together. And then loaded into the gon. The gon needs work but as is I think it turned out pretty decent. After these two projects, I started and am about half way though with a new wheel load for another gon. I made a dummy floor to attach the wheels to so I can remove it when I want. Once this load is done, I want to make a second wheel load with rusty wheels that are piled in instead of stacked. Then I can just change the loads when I want to add some variety. That's the latest. I hope to finish this wheel load by Monday evening so that it has an extra day to dry and set before I have to pack it up for the trip home later in the week. In case I didn't mention it, I'm way past ready to head home
Very, very nice work, BNSF FAN. The switch numbers are a neat idea and the loads look great. One question, where did you get all the wheels?
Tank you sir. All those wheels are from plastic wheel sets that have been replaced with metal wheel set. I just trimmed the points off the ends and then cut the axle off. I very seriously considered cutting down the flanges but my idea for that wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Also thought about drilling a hole in the center of each one to represent them not being on axles but for this one, I decided I wasn't going to tackle that. I did drive this trip. I could have done it flying but it would have to travel in a checked bag. Done that before.
Silly me, I thought 1:1 wheel sets were one piece! But I've always seen them shipped assembled(?) Perhaps because you can't always see what's inside a gon or box when passing by on the highway. It would make some sense to re-true flat-spotted wheelsets together, in order to maintain the same diameter on both ends of the axle affixed between them.
I think showing pictures of my current work shop should be put aside. Arranging in an apartment can be very disturbing to the neighbors. When I still had a growing job as a quality assurance tech my area at work was immaculate. Except where the 1st shifter put in his time.
I really like your wheel load and hope to create my own version soon. With regard to drilling out the wheels, assuming these are glued in place I would only drill the last (first) two in the stack as these are the only ones that show.
The latest news from the JPT Sub. As you may have seen in other post, the giant game of Jenga has come to an end. Not sure if I won or no one else lost? Here it is, the layout is back down to it's new height. May not really look like it but the new height is 4 1/2 inches higher than before I started. This is a big milestone in the current project and I'm excited to see the progress. Now that its back to normal, I realized I needed to add an extra shelf for cars to the sets I had at each end. The supports for the shelves on one end were just tall enough to add the extra without any modification. On the other end, I had to replace the supports. I didn't have an extra on hand so I "borrowed one from this end to get the other one done. Now I have the two new sections for this end that we see here in progress. Other updates include some new rolling stock on the work bench. The Rapido Center Beam was a recent acquisition that I was happy to find at the Plano TX train show a couple of weeks ago. I didn't notice at the time that it was in the package upside down of how it should have fit. I was actually surprised that could be done. It did explain why the lid was so tight and kind of sprung up as I opened it. Fortunately, the only damage was that the etched metal platforms had been popped loose. I was a simple fix to glue them back in place and it was sitting here drying. Here's a look at what was damaged. In case I didn't mention it, these are really great looking cars. That see through truss along the top is super nice. The Scale Trains Coil Car was another find at the same show. Another really nice car from them. Nothing wrong with this one. It was on the bench having the dividers installed. Once they dried, I did set the coils in the car and replace the hoods. Those coils are metal and give the car a nice weight. And just to strike terror into those who are completely die hard collectors. I not only let the factory air out of my new NSE Membership Car, I set it loose on the layout! Just ignore that derelict hulk in the foreground that was left there after a long forgotten derailment. There's more including an update on the Cotton Belt boxcar but that's all I can bring myself to type for now. Cheers!
Posted a big update over in the Layout Party thread yesterday but probably an even bigger set here just because. Of course the bigger news is that I made great progress on the new fascia project over the past weekend. The bulk of it is now done and it's the smaller details left to finish it up. This has gone much better than I had expected and is turning out like I had hoped it would. Lets start with a quick look at the command station area. Two items left to go here. One is a shadow box that fits inside that opening to give it a more finished look. Will probably make it in black so it just kind of disappears. Thinking about possibly adding a small LED light strip inside as well to see how it looks. Toward the lower left, the panel that holds the DC/DCC switch didn't fit as planned so I have a fix for that in the works. Those two things will finish up that little section. Next up, I added the new fascia panel and put the redone metal stud shelves in place on what is the front end of the layout. At this point, I still needed to add the BNSF sign that will grace this end. Once that end was in place, I got the fascia panel added t the opposite end and the redone metal stud shelf section in place. Both ends still need trim around the metal shelf sections but that is still farther down the to do list. As things progressed, here is the 4 corners look. from here, you can see I added corner trim but it still needs to be painted. the wife suggested I paint it the same green but I think I will stick with black like it was before. The Kato switch controllers are semi recessed about a 1/2 inch. I'm working on an easy to add/remove cover to go just below them that will cover the plugs but also make it easy to access should I need to work on them. From the next corner, you can see I'v already test fit the panel that goes under the switch controllers on this side. Like the corner trim, it still needs to be painted. On these, I'm not sure if they will be green or black yet. You may also notice I couldn't wait to fill those shelves with cars As we continue around, we get back to the front end. The BNSF sign is now in place and the shelves are full of cars. On the left side, I still need to add the one more New rail Models cup holder. I have sourced one, just have to get it now. This is the same end from the other corner. On the right had side, is a place holder and a pack of mounting screws for the one Digitrax UP7 panel that needed a replacement part. I have it and installed it after these pics so that is actually done. I am also noticing as I post this that i should probably paint the screws that attach the fascia green too. On the fascia, I have also added some temporary track diagrams. Here is one of them. An upgrade to these is on the to do list but these will work fine for now so they are pretty far down that list. The other project that I have sort of completed is the work cart. I built it from leftovers and scrap a while back but it wasn't really complete. It still needed the bottom level floor added, I had cut parts and laid them in place but one didn't fit right. I got that fixed and the floor secured. In doing that, the idea hit me to add a peg board to one side. That has turned out great. I also added handles to both sides to make it easy to pull in and out from either side. So far, the only items I didn't have left over from other projects are the handles so I haven't had to invest much in this thing and it is already coming in handy. That's it for this post but more to come on updates later.
Overall you've done a really nice job! As a former woodworker, I can appreciate everything you've done. My only complaint.......it's too clean and organized.
Niiiice! Any chance of mounting that power strip on to the side of the brown shelf to get it off the floor?
Yes sir, I'll get to work on that....... There is actually a wood block just above the shelf that should allow me to mount a pair of them vertically and not have to make any holes in the shelf unit.... I hope.
Since we brought up organizing, here is one that I struggle with. My pen holder thingy It's all stuff I use but I've got to figure out something neater. All this was in there. Back over on the layout, I guess I did have a pic of that last UP7 panel mounted and tested. Oh, while I was travelling, I made some number markers for my switches, turnouts, diverging route devices, or whatever you call them. I got them put in place and they work for me. Not too obnoxious I guess? Now then, I to get back to playing pick up sticks with that pen and tool stuff so I can work on some other stuff next.
Wow, excellent work. And I like your track diagrams, why not just put a clear piece of plexiglass over those, they look great.
Richard, You da man ! ! Fantastic layout and I have really enjoyed this thread, keep up the great work.
Thanks sir. That may be a fall back plan. What I'd really like to do with these is use a 3D printer (when I get one someday) and do them like a plaque with the track and info raised and painted this color scheme. I got that idea after someone on here a couple of years back did some name plates for their layout that way. I may be dreaming but it's the plan for now
